Amazon Workers in Delaware Reject Union Effort

Workers at an Amazon.com warehouse in Delaware voted Wednesday not to join a union, in the most serious U.S. organizing effort at the e-commerce giant.

A group of mechanics and technicians at the Middletown, Del., site turned down a plan to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers by a 21-6 vote, Amazon said in an email.

Amazon had fought the organizing effort at the 1.2-million-square-foot facility, where it employs about 1,500 workers, including through hiring a Philadelphia law firm. The retailer has faced other union efforts at its U.S. plants, but none has reached the point of a successful petition with the National Labor Relations Board.

“With today’s vote against third-party representation, our employees have made it clear that they prefer a direct connection with Amazon,” an Amazon spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

In recent weeks, Amazon has been buffeted by a series of strikes by unionized German warehouse workers, as well as stories detailing difficult working conditions at its sprawling facilities.

While the group in Delaware is small, it would have been a meaningful symbolic toehold for the Machinists, particularly as union membership nationwide continues to shrink. Amazon has been expanding rapidly, building warehouses in several states.

“The workers at Amazon faced intense pressure from managers and anti-union consultants hired to suppress this organizing drive,” a union spokesman said in an email. “We’ll continue to work with them to pursue the collective bargaining rights they’re entitled to under federal labor law.”